crystal palace football club, john peel and the clash

by jamesendeacott

I love Crystal Palace football club and as a child and young man I loved listening to John Peel on the radio. I will never forget lying in the bath one night in 1980 and he played Bankrobber by The Clash for the first time – it blew me away…i’d never heard anything like it – I was a 15 year old kid and it was slowly dawning on me that music was going to be pretty much central to my life. It must have blown John Peels mind as well as he played the tune again straight away telling his listeners to ‘listen to those synths’. I never thought I’d talk about John Peel and Crystal Palace in the same breath but all that changed today when I was shown a quote from Peel…I’m not sure where or when it’s from or even what context it’s in or even if it’s legitimate to be honest but who cares…its a great quote and sums up both the club and the man.

“And even then, supporting Palace has a certain cult value – like pretending that some Peruvian rock band is the best in the world.”
– John Peel

bankrobber – that tune still gets me every time…here’s the original promo video – the outdoor shots were filmed in Lewisham, South East London. I live near Lewisham which means I was in The Clash…at least I think it does.